Another study conducted by the Japan Tourist Agency in 2014 found that one-third of foreign tourists indicated onsens were one of their main reasons for visiting the country in the first place.

The reason for this hard line stance against tattoos in public places is because tattoos are associated with yaukza — or members of the Japanese mafia. Many public institutions ban people who have them as a way to keep gangsters out.

The Shirahone Hot Spring in Japan.Getty Images

But the Japan Tourism Agency wants times to change, at least when it comes to foreign tourists. Last year, the government agency pleaded with onsen operators to give more consideration to the cultural backgrounds of tattooed non-Japanese tourists. For Japanese visitors, the ban could still apply.

With the number of tourists to Japan on the rise, Shogo Akamichi, a Japan Tourism Agency official in charge of tourism promotion said that the agency hoped the change could mean that all tourists “can fully enjoy onsen in Japan,” according to The Japan Times.

In 2013, the cultural clash garnered a lot of media attention after a Maori woman was turned away from a public bath in Hokkaido because of her traditional face tattoos.

But onsen operators in Japan are becoming more relaxed with foreign visitors.

Almost a third (31 percent) of hotels and inns in 2015 survey said they wouldn’t ban tattooed visitors at all and more than one in ten (13 percent) said they would allow guests with tattoos into onsens if their tattoos were covered up.